We knew when planning our London trip we wanted to spend at least one day outside of the city of London. We looked at numerous tours on Viator, there were so many places that we wanted to visit and so little time! We finally found a tour that stuck out to us. A tour by Premium Tours from London that hit Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge.
A Note on Group Tours:
I know some people do not like the idea of large bus style group tours. I totally understand! Not being on your own schedule can be a little frustrating at times. But large group tours are great for times when you are short on time and want to explore a lot of places at once. This tour for instance we went to Windsor, Bath, Lacock and Stonehenge. There is no way Nathan and I would have been able to hit all of those places in one day on our own. There is a benefit to having a guide, having everything prepaid for and ready for you and following their tight schedule. Yes, I could’ve spent the whole day in Windsor but I was happy with the couple of hours we were there and I was excited to see everything else on the list. There are always “pros” and “cons” with tours like these and before you book them it is always important to weigh out whether it is worth the cost to you or not. I personally believe that this tour was well worth the cost. It is a fast paced tour but you get to see so much in one day, I highly recommend this tour.
To check the best “bang for your buck” when booking this tour I highly suggest booking from Viator and using Rakuten to get cash back. We have gotten up to 10% cash back when booking tours on Vitor by using Rakuten.
Tour Departing
The tour departs from the Victoria Coach Station in London. Do read the details of your ticket carefully as that will have your gate number and group number. Although we had a fairly easy time finding where our tour was departing from, there are many tours departing from Victoria Coach Station in the morning it could be easy to get confused of where you are supposed to go. Be sure to be at the tour departing gate on time since the tour group will likely not wait on you. They are on a very tight schedule and must leave on time. I also always recommend having a print out copy of your ticket with you just incase you cannot access the ticket on your phone.
Windsor Castle
Once on the bus we headed outside of London to Windsor Castle. Our tour group got there just as Windsor Castle was opening and had to wait in a small line. The tour guide could not give us a tour while in the Castle but he made sure we knew as much as possible before entering Windsor Castle. We had about one hour to tour the Castle and St. George’s Chapel. When inside Windsor Castle and St. George’s Chapel, photos are not permitted but you are still able to take photographs on the premise of Windsor Castle. Originally built in the 11th century, Windsor castle has an abundant history! I could’ve spent many hours there so the one hour that we did spend there flew by. After we finished touring the castle we had a little bit of time to walk through the town of Windsor, grab some snacks and head back to the bus. There is lots of fun shopping around the castle so I would make time to at least window shop a little bit.
Interested in more about Royal Castles near London? Check out this guide!: Royal Palaces and Castles in London
Bath
Next up on the tour was to head to Bath. I had heard so much about Bath before visiting and I knew it was a town I’d love! The only thing that was not included in the price of this tour was the admission to the Roman Baths. Most people in our tour group ventured around sight seeing around Bath, but my husband really wanted to see the Roman Baths. So our tour guide helped us jump to the front of the line to purchase tickets and we were able to tour the Baths. That was such a cool experience and certainly worth a visit if you are in the town. Again this tour was slightly rushed but we did get to see everything in the Roman Baths. After our time in the Roman Baths we took a quick look at the Bath Abbey. At this time it was time to start heading back towards the bus towards our next stop. After spending just a couple of hours in Bath, this is totally a town I would love to go back to and spend some more time in! It looked like there was so many fun things to do and we only got to see a small portion of the town.
Lacock
After our time in Bath we headed to the small town of Lacock for lunch. When we arrived in the town I knew immediately this would be my favorite stop on the trip! Everything looked as if it were from a movie. (And that is for a good reason since many movies do film in Lacock). The lunch in the pub was pretty good. I believe we both had Shepards Pie. It was a very cute little place and service was very quick. Our tour group was the only people in the restaurant so that was nice too. After lunch we took a walk with our tour guide through the town. He pointed out many filming locations to us as we walked. There were filming locations from Harry Potter and Downton Abbey here. In fact when watching the Downton Abbey movie recently I noticed many places we had passed along on walk were on the big screen! How cool! This was a really lovely town and the time spent here on the tour was just perfect!
Stonehenge
Now it was time to head to the grand finale of our tour, Stonehenge! I had always wanted to visit Stonehenge and it was not until I was planning out our trip to London that I realized how close Stonehenge is to the city! Although it is possible to visit Stonehenge via public transit, I liked the idea of choosing this tour and being able to see many other sights along the way! It was so nice to be able to pull up with our tour group and already have our tickets ready to go. Stonehenge itself was amazing! There is a gorgeous field surrounding these stones and areas to just sit down and admire them. Stonehenge was larger than I imagined and I am so baffled at how this was created. Aliens anyone?
Final Thoughts
All in all I thought this tour was well worth the money spent. It included a full day guided tour (and it really did last ALL day), air-conditioned transportation, admission to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge and lunch in Lacock. Although it was a fast paced tour our guide was very thorough and I had a great time at each location! If you are in London for a few days, I highly recommend venturing out of the city with this tour!
Check out the tour here: Stonehenge, Windsor, and Bath with Pub lunch in Lacock
